Cholera toll in Kano now 90

Four weeks after a cholera epidemic broke out in Nigeria's northern Kano state, the government has said the disease has so far claimed 90 people in the state hospitals. Many more people could have died unreported outside the hospitals. The Nigeria News Agency on Monday quoted State Commissioner for health Mansur Kabir- who also reportedly contracted cholera earlier but was treated- as saying the death toll in the state's 44 local councils could go much higher. "Only the records of those who died at hospitals are ascertainable for now," he was quoted as saying. The World Health Organization (WHO), Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), UNICEF and the Federal Ministry of Health had offered some assistance to the state government to contain the epidemic. These organisations, Kabir was quoted as saying, had offered technical support plus oral rehydration therapy (ORT), intravaneous fluids (IVF) and chlorines.